Question for the Dippers

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Chief among these is the combination of any acid-containing toilet bowl cleaner and any chlorine bleach product. That is the beginning of one of your worst days. After you struggle to your feet (if you can), you need to ventilate thoroughly.

There is a pitched debate over whether Thiourea is or is not a carcinogen. My personal view is that it is not, but people of good faith disagree on that.

 

E-Zest (formerly Jeweluster) is commonly available at retail, and the specific product most are referring to when discussing "dip" as a verb. It's 5% thiourea and 2% sulfuric acid by weight. LD50 is guesstimated at ~2g/kg orally. Which is to say, I'd need to drink about 4 containers of it at one sitting to kill myself.

As long as one practices elementary safety precautions - don't use it as creamer, don't hyperventilate with one's nose three-quarters of an inch from the open container, use something else as shampoo - its' use is relatively benign. The whole point of it is, the moment its' use is done you're rinsing the bejeezus out of everything that came into contact with it anyways, as the proper procedure for getting what you desire from it.

 

Here's an example: I'm using EZ-est near my kitchen sink so when I am done with the dip of the particular coin, I can have my first rinse stage be a minute blast of tap water. I finish dipping and I am in clean up mode. I then scrub the heck out of my kitchen sink to make sure any plate that later gets put in the sink isn't contaminated. I realize this opens me up to--you shouldn't rinse in kitchen sink, but I'm wondering if this is the degree of caution most would use in this sort of setup or is it overkill or is it blindly irresponsible, etc...

 

BTW, the "acid" in your (and your cat's) stomach is sulfuric acid...ever see what they do after they heave?

 

What they do after they heave? They usually eat it up again. It's nasty. Heave=throw up?

 

Winner winner chicken dinner...uuuuuuurp

 

Actually stomach acid, or gastric acid, is composed of mostly hydrochloric acid with some potassium chloride and sodium chloride. There is no sulfuric acid. Although you mught think there is if you burp after eating a hard boiled egg.

 

Oops...sorry, I usually use the example of hydrochloric in your stomach and sulfuric in your car battery...senior moment.

 

Oh, I get it now...

 

I HAVE A ISRAELI "JONAH THE WHALE" SILVER PROOF COIN THAT I HAVE RECENTLY NOTICED SMUDGES ON ! ANY ADVICE ON REMOVING THEM? THIS IS A EXPENSIVE COIN ONLY 2800 MINTED, DON'T WANT TO RUIN IT! I HAVE SOME VERDI-CARE, WOULD THAT HELP? THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE.

 

You should start new thread with pics. You're question will not get good attn buried deep in this thread

 

Thanks for sharing your formula. Can you tell us your procedure?

 

I like to "swirl" my coins in the stuff. That means either being very gentle so you don't mark up the "face down side" or even drop a patch of fabric from an old flannel shirt in the bottom of the dish. I use a glass dish. I also will farther dilute my stock solution in order to slow down the reaction, if my aim is to reduce, rather than kill, the toning. As you use the stuff, tiny flecks of pure sulfur will begin to precipitate in the liquid. When it gets to the point you can smell it, use fresh juice.

This is a formula adapted from one from Eastman Kodak Company, intended to rescue textile items stained with silver sulfides from darkroom use. Towels, your new best white dress shirt that your wife just got you, you know the drill.

The unused stuff is pretty stable. It doesn't "go bad" if in a tightly closed container.

 

Hey when the stuff turns blue-ish is it possible that copper sulfide (or whatever the blue stuff is) is being redeposited on subsequent coins?

 

Hmm. I don't recommend this at all for copper. It's for silver only. But if you use it for copper, the answer is "yes". If and when the pH of the solution goes alkaline, even when considering silver, this WILL deposit toning ONTO silver coins. {Hint, hint.}

 

Right...I am getting a little paranoid about reusing it at all. But it seems so wasteful to use a new batch for each coin. That is probably best though, huh?

 

Oh, no, no, no. You can do maybe 25 coins with one batch, depending on how much toning you remove. As long as the yellow sulfur precipitate doesn't create the rotten eggs smell, you're good. And if you see toning going ON a coin, just add a little citric acid powder to lower the pH.